McKenzie Post-Draft Press Conference

Opening Statement: “Well, we’re excited that we added 10 new players. We feel like we have 10 young guys that will help this ballclub and I want to congratulate and say thanks to all of the personnel staff, and the coaching staff, and everyone involved in this whole process. It ended up being a good day, it ended up well and we’re excited for the future of the Raiders.”

On drafting skill players and whether the team got more explosive offensively: “I would like to think so. The past three days, the one thing we did, we stayed true to the board and the board kind of dictated a lot of what we did of picking certain players, certain positions, whether it was moving back. We tried to assess the value and let the board help dictate what we do.”

On Tyler Wilson and the challenges he faced his senior season at Arkansas: “With that being said, I totally understand the coaching change, offense, all that. You can still watch his style of play; the way he plays the game. We like a lot of things about him. We like the way he can move around in the pocket, we like his toughness to hang in there and see the field – we think he has a lot of qualities that goes into being a good solid quarterback in the NFL.”

On whether he targeted QB Matt Barkley: “Well what we did is we made sure we looked at the board and how it falls; that’s how we went. Who goes where – I don’t want to get into that because then I’d be telling you my board and I don’t want to do that. I know it’s over, but I don’t want to let the other teams know where I had guys.”

On gathering a multitude of picks as the draft progressed and if that was the plan: “No, it developed that way. We run into this where the whole draft week, I wanted to make sure we added seven good players. If it happens to turn into five or 12, there’s no way to determine that especially going in to it. I didn’t want to go into it making trades, but I did want to stay true to the board and if it tells me, ‘Hey, you should move down because of the value of it,’ then I’m going to look into it and I’ll take the calls.”

On addressing need while picking the best available player: “Well from that standpoint, you just hope that it falls right. If you get one need – one thing about it, we felt like we had a few needs so I didn’t think it was that hard to address certain areas because we had needs in a lot of spots. We needed to upgrade depth in a lot of spots, so we knew if we stayed true to the board we were going to get good players, and that was the whole factor was to make sure we got good players with each pick.”

On whether it was difficult to stay true to the board: “As it went on later on, it is always. Even in the beginning, somebody is on the board that you didn’t expect and you would like to fill a need real quick but you can’t do that. You hurt the team that way.”

On DT Stacy McGee’s off-field issues and what convinced him he was the right pick: “The research. Not only doing the research of the people down there and all of that, but it’s the research with him and his group. The people that surround him – his support group, and talking to him himself. You just came away with, ‘I wanted to see what this guy has and give him a chance.’ He knows it, but I have no problems bringing him into that locker room. He’s a solid guy that made some mistakes in college and that happens sometimes. But after the thorough research we had with him, we felt good about it.”

On if off-the-radar guys like McGee and Latavius Murray were next-best-available players on his board: “Yes.”

On if he stays true to his board regardless of what he thinks other teams plan to do in the draft: “Absolutely. You can drive yourself crazy if you try to set your board that way, you try to figure out where the other teams put your players. You can’t do that. You’ve got to believe the reports and the recommendations of your scouts and everybody who saw that player, and when we get together we put it on the board as here it is, here’s where we’re going to put him and if it comes this way, we’ll pick him compared to where we have everybody else. So, we stay true to the board by how we evaluate the guys, not on how we think he’s going to come off the board.”

On Tyler Wilson’s delivery and if his mechanics need work: “Coach is going to have to work with mechanics. That’s one of those ails with a lot of these players. These guys come in as rookies, they’ve been taught a certain way and they’ve been throwing all kinds of ways. Regardless of the quarterback position or any one of the positions, they’re going to have to get coached up and he’s no exception.”

On how different this year’s draft was: “Well, it was different. Number one (in 2012), you just came in and watched day one and pretty much day two also, until the last pick. Today, last year, a lot of energy. Now, as far as going into the draft preparation and the cohesiveness, the overall feel for me, it was much better this year because I’ve experienced it once, so I’m going into my second draft so the flow was much better for me. I’m probably more comfortable with the scouts. I’ve got a chance to work with Zach Crockett, Calvin Branch, and Dave McCloughan and the rest of those guys, Mickey Marvin. I’ve been through it with those guys last year, so I knew those guys; but now this year, getting some of the other guys in place and kind of doing it the way I was accustomed to, it was much more comfortable for me. I felt a whole lot better going into it.”

On how he feels about the quarterbacks on the roster and if he will look to add a veteran: “I would like to bring four guys into the offseason, whether you bring them all in to training camp or not, but I’m used to bringing at least about four quarterbacks and let the guys compete and try to work through camp. It’s very hard to just have two, sometimes three quarterbacks sometimes if one takes a day off or he’s hurt, sick, the arm is sore, whatever, then you’ve got to rely on just a couple of guys doing all the work.”

On if Wilson can compete right away: “He’s a rookie. I want him to learn the playbook first. Get out here and make sure he gets behind the center, not behind the guard. You want these guys to come in and just show the coaches and their team, number one, that they belong. Then all the other stuff will come.”

On if he worries about what other teams are going to do before moving down: “It comes into play when it’s not just…you’re assuming I’m just looking at the quarterback position. If I have more players around that area, I feel comfortable moving down. That’s the way I try to set the board. If there’s enough players in that general area, then I’ll move down. Not just one position. I try not to target just one position unless I’m going up to go get that one position guy. That’s when I target that one position guy. If I have enough ammunition, I’ll try to do that.”

On if choosing two tight ends was a decision made by the board: “It was definitely the board because those two guys were right together. Yes, Kasa is more the in-line guy. He can catch the ball, but he hasn’t had a whole lot of experience playing the position. But he showed that he can play the position. And Rivera is more the receiving tight end. He’s played in-line also, but what he excels at is more the receiving-type tight end.”

On choosing Rivera because he played at Tennessee: “Absolutely, that helps.”

On addressing the pass rush: “We felt like we got a couple of guys that can rush the passer. We think our third-round pick, Sio, can come off the edge a little bit. We think David Bass can come off the edge some. We like some of the things that Stacy can do in the middle. So sometimes you look into the certain draft classes and try to identify a gamut of pass rushers or whatever needs you may have, whether it’s quarterback, running back, it doesn’t matter. If it’s not there, we’re not going to make up guys. We’re not going to push guys up the board because we think we need a defensive lineman, a defensive end; we’re not going to do that. If it’s not there, we’ll find it another way.”

On if Bass was a guy they stashed away as a late-round option: “Yeah, we didn’t think he was…where we picked him is kind of where we had him.”

On if the East-West Shrine Game helped in their evaluation of Bass: “Well you go against certain competition. When he’s used to going against certain players, now he’s going against some bigger and better football players and you can try to see if you see the same things that you saw on tape. Yes, that helps.”

On if there were guys last year who didn’t follow his and Coach Allen’s philosophy: “No, it has more to do with the philosophy and what we’re trying to implement into this team. The message that we’re sending to the current team last year when we got here. So it’s more this is what we’re all about. These are the kind of players we want. Now, if you want to join ship, let’s get on board. This is what you’re going to have to do. You’re going to have to work. It’s just sending a message. This is kind of who we are as players and as a team. We’re going to come here and go to work. Trying to get it done.”

On if there were guys that didn’t join the ship last year: “Well, I’ll tell you this: you had some guys that had to learn how to do it the right way. I thought the staff did a good job of getting guys to do that. Make no bones about it guys, we won’t be the only team to bring guys in and ship guys out. That’s going to always be the case. We’ll have some of these guys here currently that probably can't cut it. But the goal is to get guys in that locker room that are all working for a common goal and that’s on the same page. That’s the only way you’re going to develop chemistry. Those guys have to come together. Once coach is sending the right message and the players are trying to implement it, you’ve got a chance.”